19/04/2013 00:00
TW
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Palma.—Town hall debt in the Balearics rose again in 2012, figures from the Hacienda and the Ministry for Public Administration showing that it totalled 845 million euros last year. In Spain as a whole, local authorities (excluding regional governments) ran up a debt amounting to 41'964.2 million euros, 6'545 million more than in 2011 - a percentage increase of 18.4%.

This 41'000 million plus was accounted for thus: 35'290 million was town hall debt; 6'457.5 million was debt accumulated by provincial administrations and island authorities; 206.6 million related to small communities and also “mancomunidades” (groupings of local towns, and ones that are to be eliminated under local government reforms).

The most indebted town is that of Madrid, which was 7'429.6 million in the red at the end of December last year. Other major cities were less in debt: Barcelona 1'178 million and Valencia 975.7 million.

In the Community of Madrid as a whole, the various town halls were in debt to the tune of 9'414.6 million euros. Behind the Community of Madrid, in descending order of town hall debt, came: Catalonia (5'512 million); the Community of Valencia (3'671.9 million); Castile León (1'354.9 million); Aragon (1'184.8 million); Castilla La Mancha (1'081.2 million); the Canary Islands (1'020.3 million); Murcia (968.9 million); the Balearics (845 million); Galicia (773.4 million); the Basque Country (647.5 million); Asturias (481.2 million); Extremadura (321.8 million) and Navarre (304.1 million).